Part seven', Chapter III: Example of Saints and Religious Orders

Example of Saints and Religious Orders

THE Holy Spirit has also inspired many saints to show forth by word and example a most special devotion to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

It is true that every saint belongs to the court of the Queen of all Saints; nevertheless there are certain ones who stand out as being very closely associated with the royal Heart of Mary, their sovereign Iady. First, of course, is St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, incomparably dear to her holy Heart. Even her parents, St. Anne and St. Joachim, cannot dispute the first place of St. Joseph in her heart, having conceded it during their lifetime, when they entrusted the Virgin Mary to his care. Then comes St. John the Baptist, truly the eldest son of Mary in the life of grace. St. Gabriel the Archangel had die inestimable privilege of being the Guardian Angel of the immaculate Mother of God. And what can we my of St. John, the disciple most dear to the heart of Our Lord, to whom Our Saviour entrusted the life and heart of His Beloved Mother from the cross? St. Luke the Evangelist also belongs to the Heart of Mary because he was chosen by her to reveal the sublime secret to mankind, that "she kept all those words in her heart." There are many mints who have consecrated themselves under the special designation of spouse of the Queen of Angels. Among these I name as examples St. Edmund of Canterbury, St. Robert, St. Stephen, St. Alberic, Founder of the Cistercian Order, St. Bernard, St. Dominic and his disciple Blessed Alanus, Blessed Herman the Premonstratensian, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Bernardine of Siena, and so many others whose names are inscribed in the Book of Life.

St. Mecthilde and St. Gertrude, noted daughters of St. Benedict, in the revelation of their surpassing devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, have shown most clearly the beauties and mysteries of devotion to the loving Heart of the Mother of Our Lord and Saviour.

St. Thomas Becket, martyred Archbishop of Canterbury, had special devotion to the seven joys of the heart of Our Lady during her earthly

life, seven joys that accompanied the unfolding of the mysteries of redemption: the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birth of Our Lord, the Adoration of the Magi, the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, the Resurrection of Our Lord, and finally her own glorious Assumption into Heaven.

The contemplation of these joys of Our Lady gave much joy and devotion to St. Thomas of Canterbury; yet Our Lady appeared to him and revealed that she would extend special intercession, at the hour of death,to those who united to her Seven earthly joys the seven additional joys of her holy Heart in Heaven. St. Thomas composed a hymn proclaiming these seven heavenly joys, an inspiring canticle which is still sung and recited in many places; therefore this saint well deserves to rank among those specially favored by Our Lady because of devotion to her admirable Heart.

I have mentioned more than once the special tenderness of the Heart of Mary towards the Cistercian Order. Also belonging particularly to the Heart of Our Lady was St. Teresa, together with the entire Order of Discalced Carmelites. In addition to the writings of St. Teresa herself, I have seen a book published in Milan, by one of her followers, Venerable Father John of St. Joseph, which gives a most beautiful exposition of the ardent love and union of the Heart of the Mother of God with the Heart of her Divine Child.

St. Philip Néri, founder of the Oratorians at Rome, inspired in the members of his Order devotion patterned after his own signal love of Our Lady, devotion expressed in the writings of Dom Francis Marchese. His anthology of numerous devotional practices in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary contains eight remarkably inspirational exercises for the Octave of the Feast of her most admirable Heart.

Among other members of religious orders who have merited distinction as votaries of the Heart of Mary because of their writings in her honor are John Tauler of the Dominican Order, Blosius the Benedictine and Lanspergius the Carthusian.

In the Life of Mother Mary Villani, a Dominican nun who died in Naples in the odor of sanctity on March 26, 1670, there is a signal proof of her devotion to the Holy Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mother Villani described how the Holy Ghost seemed to inspire her to recite three Hail Marys in honor of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. At the first Ave she offered the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord; at the second Ave she honored the sweet Heart of the Blessed Mother by presenting the Heart of her Beloved Son in thanksgiving for the graces He bestowed upon the Heart of Mary; at

the third Ave she offered her own heart to the united Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Mother Villani'slife records that this practice was rewarded by a vision of Our Lady, in which the Blessed Virgin expressed the joy it imparted to her and promised special protection for those who practised this devotion to her Heart and that of her Divine Son.

St. Francis de Sales is another great saint whose words glow with burning love for the Heart of Our Lady, a love communicated to his devout daughters in religion, the Religious of the Visitation. We also see the Ursulines, and the Congregation of Our Lady, bearing in their lives the mark of the charity inflaming the Heart of Mary, the Mother of Fair Love. There are many other religious and holy persons who celebrate every year, mine on the eighth of February, others on the first of June, the Feast of the Heart of the Queen of Heaven, the most compassionate, most generous, most magnificent of all hearts, a Heart that cannot fail to pour upon this world, and obtain in the next, the richest of blessings for those who persevere in its love and veneration.

The Priests of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary have a great cause for consolation and a very special obligation of thanksgiving to Our Lord and to His most holy Mother for being called and received into a Congregation belonging particularly to their most Holy Hearts. Five principal reasons emphasize this:

First, the Congregation is wholly consecrated to this admirable Heart, one of the chief objects of its establishment being to give special honor to this august Heart, which is regarded and revered as its Patron, and as the model held up to its members, so that they may learn to conform their own hearts to its sublime pattern.

Secondly, all the churches and chapels of the Congregation are dedicated and consecrated to the honor of the mine most holy Heart. Our Holy Father Pope Clement X in his Bulls has named them "The Churches and Chapels of the Heart of Jesus and Mary." Thirdly, this Congregation was the first to hold solemn celebration of the Feasts of the Admirable Heart of Jesus and Mary. It is not necessary to be concerned over the extreme unworthiness of him whom God has used to establish these feasts, who is the least of men, the first of sinners and the most unworthy of priests. Almighty God who created the world from nothing, and retrieved it without its having contributed to its own redemption, is wont to choose things most vile and low, which are nothing. , to accomplish the designs of His Will. Did not God use St. Julian, a poor Cistercian, to induce Pope Urban IV to establish the Feast of Corpus Christi?

Fourthly, from the time Our Saviour and His Blessed Mother gave

birth to this Congregation in Holy Church, it has experienced the extraordinary effects of love of the admirable Heart. Those who have the happiness to be members of the Congregation should have holy confidence that the Blessed Virgin will cherish all of them in her maternal Heart as she has so repeatedly proved. If they raise no obstacles by their sins and infidelities, they will have a secure place, for the hereafter, in her loving Heart, which is a Heaven more vast and extensive than all the heavens, for it is the abode of Him whom the heavens cannot contain.

Fifthly, if St. Paul assures all his spiritual children that neither life nor death shall ever separate them from his heart,(1) how much more strongly does Our Blessed Mother give the same assurance to her true children, for whom her love is incomparably greater than that of St. Paul for his disciples. But, on the other hand, each one of us should strive to live so that we may exclaim like St. Paul: "Who shall Separate me from the loving Heart of my adorable Father Jesus and my heavenly Mother Mary? Shall it be tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? o r persecution? or the sword? No, I am sure that, with the grace of God, neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate my heart from the holy Heart of Jesus and of His most Blessed Mother, who is also mine, " As for the Religious of Our Lady of Charity, their very great obligations to the most holy Heart of the all- glorious Virgin shall certainly prevent any one from surpassing them in the love they owe to her Heart, after the Heart of Jesus, the most lovable, loving and loved of all hearts. They dwell i n an Order which originated at the same time as the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, and is likewise entirely consecrated to the admirable Heart of the Mother of Fair Love. In token of this, the Sisters wear a silver heart bearing an image of die Mother of our Saviour, and are called Religious of Our Lady of Charity, because they have been founded to work for the salvation of derelict souls, and salvation is the greatest object of the charity that abounds in the Heart of Mary. They should think most highly of their religious vocation and follow with the greatest care and affection the devotional exercises of their holy Institute. They should often consider the very ardent love of Mary's Heart for souls redeemed by the most Precious Blood of her divine Son so that their own hearts may experience the sacred fire of charity with which they ought to exert themselves in the task of saving the souls entrusted to them by Divine Providence. (1). 2 Cor- 7, 3.

This chapter has presented a large number of mints and religious orders who belong very specially to the most august Heart of the Queen of Saints. Trough their example the Holy Ghost preaches eloquently the devotion to the holy Heart of Mary. Let us offer to her admirable Heart the honor rendered to it by all these saints and holy persons and cultivate an ardent desire to imitate their zeal and ardor. Let us beg them to make us sharers in their devotion and to associate us in the glory and praise that is rendered to the most powerful and merciful Queen of all Christian hearts that love Almighty God. 211-